HYDROCHARIDEAE, in botany, a natural order of Mono-
cotyledons, belonging to the series Helobieae. They are water-
plants, represented in Britain by frog-bit (Hydrocharis Morsus-
ranae) and water-soldier (Stratiotes alaides). The order contains
about fifty species in fifteen genera, twelve of which occur in
fresh water while three are marine: and includes both floating
and submerged forms.
Hydrocharis floats on
the surface of still
water, andhas rosettes
of kidney-shaped
leaves, from among
which spring the
flower-stalks; stolons
bearing new leaf-
rosettes are sent out
on all sides, the plant
thus propagating itself
in the same way as
the strawberry.
Straliotes abides has a
rosette of stiff sword-
like leaves, which when
the plant is in flower
project above the
surface; it is , also
stoloniferous, the
young rosettes sinking
to. the bottom at the
beginning of winter
and rising again to the
surface in the spring.
Vallisneria (eel-grass)
contains two species,
one native of tropical
,Asia, the other . in-
habiting the warmer
parts of both hemi-
spheres and reaching
as far north as south
Frog-bit—male plant. the mud at the bottom
I, Female flower. of fresh water, and the
2, Stamens, enlarged. short stem bears a
3, Barren pistil of male flower, enlarged. cluster of long,
4, Pistil of female flower. g, narrow
5, Fruit. grass-like. leaves; new
6, Fruit cut transversely. plants are formed at
7, mod' the end of horizontal
8, 9, Floral diagrams of male and female
flowers respectively. runners. Another type
s, Rudimentary stamens. is represented by
Elodea canadensis or
water-thyme,which has been introduced into the British Isles from North America. It is a small, submerged plant with long, slender branching stems bearing whorls of narrow toothed leaves; the flowers appear at the surface when mature. Halophila, Enhalus and Thalassic are submerged maritime plants found on tropical coasts, mainly in the Indian and Pacific oceans; Halophila has an elongated stem rooting,at the nodes; Enhalus a short, thick rhizome, clothed with black threads resembling horse-hair, the
persistent hard-bast strands of the leaves; Thalassic has a creeping rooting stem with upright branches bearing crowded strap-shaped leaves in two rows. The flowers spring from, or are enclosed in, a spathe, and are unisexual and regular, with generally a calyx and corolla, each of three members; the stamens are in whorls of three, the inner whorls are often barren; the two to fifteen carpels form an inferior ovary containing generally numerous ovules on often large, produced, parietal placentas. The fruit is leathery or fleshy, opening irregularly. The seeds contain a large embryo and no endosperm. In Hydrocharis (fig.
I), which is dioecious, the flowers are borne above the surface of the water, have conspicuous white petals, contain honey and are pollinated by in-sects. Stralioles has similar flowers which come above the surface only
for pollination, becoming sub-merged again during ripening of the fruit. In Vallisneria (fig. 2), which is also dioecious, the small male flowers are borne in large numbers in short-stalked spathes; the petals are minute and scale-like, and only two of the three
stamens are !fer- FIG. z.—Vallisneria spiralis—Eel grass--tile; the flowers about i natural size. A, Female plant; B, become detached Male plant.
before opening and rise to the surface, where the sepals expand and form a float bearing the two projecting semi-erect stamens. The female flowers are solitary and are raised to the surface on. a long, spiral stall:; the ovary bears three broad styles, on, which some of the
large, sticl.•y pollen-grains from the Iloatmg male floc: ers get de-posited (fig. 3). After pollination the female flower becomes drawn below the surface by the spiral con-traction of the long stalk, and the fruit ripens near the bottom.
Elodea has poly- FIG. 3.
gamo.us flowers
(that is, male, female and hermaphrodite), solitary, in slender, tubular spathes; the male flowers become detached and rise to the surface; the females are raised to the surface when mature, and receive the floating pollen from the male. The flowers of Halophila are submerged and apetalous.
The order is a widely distributed one; the marine forms are tropical or subtropical, but the fresh-water genera occur also in the temperate zones.